Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1887-10-06


choker, wearing a regular sailor shirt
and Scotch cap.
~I've been to sea some, Cap'n," he
says, in quiet sort of way, aand it'll
do me good to str round with the mer
O little--Pd like to-"
Capn Gore stared, and smiled in his
dry way, but said nothing. And Mr..
Venn did stir round.
We hnd two reefng jobs before noon
= first single then double, and both
times Pm blessed If the young felleI
wasn't to the weather yard arm hang
ing on to the lift with his earrin' ready
rove to haul out, before we men was
fairly on the yard.
Yet he didn't forget his profession
neither. 1t was Kelly, the worst swear
ing man aboard, stood next him, and
when Kelly begun his regular cursing,
Mr.. Venn says:
"Mr. Kelly, your own priest would
tell you you were -endangering your
soul-G'ed The sail doesn't pick up a
bit easier, either."
Right you are, parson," SAYS Kelly,
and Mr.. Venn was tho "sailor parsoh"
after that with all hands. He knew
just what to say and when to say it
and we fellows took to him nightly,
specially as all but sleeping for'ard he
filled Boxes place in the watch day and
night
But it was awful weather, and we were
two days and nights beating to wind
ward before the Eddystone light
showed up. This was early Sunday
forenoon, and when the watch was sent
below, Boxer wasn't in his bunk.
Now there was only board bulkhead
twixt the foc'sle (which was below
deck and the for'ard hold. Then,
somebody noticed one of the boards
was loose, whilst there was tremen-
dous smell OF rum in the fo'c'sle itself.
We mistrusted what it meant in
minute. We showed the board away
and the whole thing comes to me now
like photograph.
SONY Mhat 81 With Eas tbs aSps E8Rg aDd nsaERg
had shifted. Three or four of the pow
der kegs was stove atop of the punch
cons and casks of rum, and there sat
Boxer in the middle of 'em. One of
the half empty kegs was iammed down
into heap of loose powder to stiddy
it, and in the end bunghole was lighted
tallow dip with paper round the butt to
keep it In place
Boxer had somehow got big gimlet
from the carpenters room and tapped
rum puncheon. And there he sat
a-straddle of it like seafaring Bacchus,
drinking the raw liquor out of a tin
pannikin as though it was water, while
every time the brig rolled little heavi-
er than usual, you could see the pow
der-keg with the candle in it work back
and forth in the powder heap.
I've been scarf in my day. but never
nothing like that. / only wonder my
hair didn't turn white in o minute, as
the story writers say.
/ don't think as quick as some, and
while was standing staring, Peter,
one Of the Firms in my watch, had run
aft to Cap'n Gore, and the next thing
saw was the old man standing right be-
hind me with one of those Prooshan
army "needleguns" cooked and ready
for action.
"Hullo, Cap" Boxer sung out, wav-
ing the pannikin round his head, crazy
as q coot, "come on, and have just one
drink before it's too late. Because"
he said, going on quick and fast, "Im
q man of education, and this thing of
sending rum and missionaries to Af-
rica isn't quite the thing; so l'm going
to send the whole kit of us skyhigh di-
rcc'ly the candle gets burned a triie
lower!"
Passengers included, there were four
teen of us all told at the mercy of one
sailor, crazy drunk and as he lurched
for'ard, having the idea of snuffing the
candles with his fingers SO we could
see, Captain Gore jerked the gun to
his shoulder.
"God forgive mel" heard him say
sort of under his breath, as he steadied
himself and glanced along the barrel.
"Wait one momentP
1t was the parson; and, as he spoke
in a half whisper, he pulled the cap
tain's finger away from the rifles trig-
ger guard.
"Step back" he whispered, and
pushing himself in front of Captain
Gore, who was struck aback for the
minute, he sung out:
"Dacy-I harlie Dacyl"
Drunk and crazy-both, in fact
Boxer started back like he'd been hot,
instead of being within hairs breadth
of it.
Before Boxer could speak the parsor
squeezed himself through the narrow
place in the bulkhead and gripped
Boxers two wrists in his hands, which
/ never would have believed were SC
strong.
"Charlie," the parson says, solemn
like, "you aren't yourself, come"
But "Charlie," as he called him
wasn't himself by no manner of means
and he grappled the parson with vel
that was awful. But the parsou hung
on with death-grip, and wo fellows
broke through the bulkhead to hell
him.
1t wasn't long before that candle was
in safe hands, can tell you, and ther
Boxer, lashed hand and foot, was car
ried into the fo'c'sle and tied in hi
bunk.
But all this while the mate was il
charge of the deck, and the wind haul
ing further and further to tie south
ard and BASTARD, was driving the bril
to loo'ard. And just as Cap'n Gor'
run on deck the reefed foresail bus
and blowed into rags in twinkling.
The briggs sails we're old anyway
and the fore-staysail went flying afte
the foresail. And before we could ge
new ones bent the Clara Desmond wai
drifting TO loo'ard to'ard Burr Island
where the breakers ran half masthea,
| high as for as we could see.
There's low water shoal of shiftin,
sands within two cables lengths of tn,
island, and there the brig took bot